Forestry GIS Geographic Information Systems

Definition A GIS is a ‘system’ consisting of hardware, software, and people designed to capture, store, analyze, and manipulate all forms of spatial or geographic information. (2D and 3D)

The hardware consists of up-to-date computer systems, including personal computers, plotters, digitizers, printers, scanners, and other peripheral devices. The computers in our lab (BB-1027) are AMD Athlon’s (1.47GHz) with 768mb ram, equipped with Zip drives,CD ROMs, and dual monitors. We also have three digitizing tablets and a scanner. The software in our lab runs under the Windows XP professional operating system. The GIS Software is ARCGIS 8.1 (Workstation and Desktop) and ARCVIEW 3x, both ESRI products.ESRI We also have other software including MS-Office, Adobe, FTP, Pathfinder, etc.

Access to the lab is for 2350 and 4217students ONLY on a 24 hr. basis. There will be NO food or drink allowed. Each student will be assigned a computer station and must remain in their own directories. Assignments will be given weekly and be due the following week. All lab handouts will be posted on the web on a weekly basis in HTML and WORD format. All students must open a FLASH account immediately.

Students will be required to purchase a 100mb Zip disk to back-up their work. Marks = 50% of course. 50% = 10 weekly assignments (5% each.) – including a weekly summary to be posted on the web.* *This is to be a summary of the main points demonstrated in the lab by the instructor. (including diagrams where required.)

Raster - grid cells (pixels) of a certain dimension (resolution) (e.g.. Satellite images) Vector - points, lines, and polygons. Used to represent the real world in the form of maps. Digital Maps

Vector Features POINTS –(x,y) location. (e.g. buildings, towers.) LINES – length and direction. (e.g.. roads, streams.) POLYGONS – area. (e.g.. forest stands.)